5 reasons it is time to automate your packaging line

if you are seeing huge growth of your products. This reminds you it is time to improve your production. In order to achieve this goal, there are two ways for you to operate. One is to add more labor to your project, and another one is to automate your packaging line. As we all know, automated packaging line is a trend. And these two ways have different features and benefits. We can not simply say which one is good or which one is bad. Because a company should adopt specific and different strategies to suit different situations. And if you have these 5 signs of your business, it is time to automate your packaging line.

1. Labor cost and automation cost

Suppose you have an employee operating manual equipment. This person’s salary is $15 an hour, full load, including social security, workers’ comp, unemployment insurance, etc. This employee costs your business about $31,200 or more. Now imagine 20 or more employees earning the same hourly rate. In this case, packaging machinery like an automatic packing machine can pay for itself in less than a year while reducing your labor costs. 

2. Oversimplified repetitive work

Is your workforce doing a lot of repetitive work that machines can do faster? If the answer is yes, investigate the tasks involved with a machine that can do this for you. An example of a repetitive, simple operation is the case packer, which eliminates the labor required to form the boxes in which the product is placed and shipped. In some cases, the entire boxing, filling, and sealing process can be managed with a single machine, eliminating these steps your team has to take at the end of the packaging line. 

3. High material waste

Usually, when manual labor is used on the packaging line, material waste increases. An example of automation reducing waste is switching from a manual palletizer to a semi-automatic palletizer: products are palletized to fit an average 40″ x 48″ pallet size, with no overhangs, and stack heights up to 64″. Manual wrapping showed inconsistent 20% pre-stretch by employees, but the semi-automatic tray packer consistently pre-stretched the film to 200% while using a consistent amount of film. This greatly reduces film usage by about 80 feet per load. Machines are far more precise than humans and can reduce or in some cases eliminate packaging material waste – significantly reducing overall operating costs and improving product integrity.

4. Is there too much demand for your labor?

When looking at packaging automation, labor is often the first place to be scrutinized. Demand is increasing, and your team is barely achieving its goals. Your customers and/or retailers become restless, or at worst abandon you entirely. The increased demand for limited bandwidth that puts pressure on the limited bandwidth can also lead to a stressful work environment and can lead to high labor turnover. If you experience significant employee turnover, this may be directly related to your packaging process and is a good reason to review your automation options.

5. Target market and product demand

Knowing your target market and forecasting potential growth ahead of time will help justify new investments in machinery. Ask yourself: Will you be adding new products in the coming year? Do you expect a lot of growth? Pay attention to the interests of your target market and how they align with your product portfolio. Has something happened in the news or current events that suggest there is a demand for your product? On the other hand, you may be able to justify automation due to reduced demand. If demand in the market you serve is expected to drop, automation may save you overall operating costs, reducing your labor. The ROI of automation can be fast, and reducing the number of employees can save a lot. 

Conclusion

Nowadays, automation has become the irresistible trend of the times. If your company wants to keep competition in a cutthroat market, it is a good idea to automate your packaging line. This not greatly improves your productivity but also reduces your cost.

Taizy Packaging Machinery as one of the leading packing solution providers, provides excellent and custom automatic packing solutions. With high performance and good price of our packing machines, we have successfully exported them to more than 80 countries and regions.